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Google Reports 49% Increase In Content Takedown Requests From Indian Government
Google’s latest transparency report has revealed an alarming 49% rise in requests for removal of content, made by Government Of India (GoI).
Just last year, Google had complied with 51% of removal requests from our Government. In the first half of the year, Google received about 101 ‘content removal requests’ from Indian authorities. That number jumped to 255 in the second half. Some of the content that Google removes, include material that offends religious sentiments & are proven to be obscene & derogatory in nature. Some 77 Youtube videos, articles were given international access, but were blocked locally if they were found to “violate local laws prohibiting speech, which could incite enmity between communities”.
On one hand, ministers like Kapil Sibal declare that Government will not censor social media. However, on the other, the Government makes official requests for censoring material. Even the search giant feels that the freedom of speech is at stake because of the 130 textual items that were asked to be removed; many were about political speeches or were supposedly hate speech.
How has Google responded? Google seems to care primarily about requests from courts only, as it complied with 80% of the requests. As for others, Google toed the line only for 26% of the cases. Apart from removal requests, Google also received 2,207 requests from Indian authorities seeking access to user data. GoI has become increasingly paranoid about data security & had earlier mandated such sites to setup servers in India for easier monitoring & intercepting of data. It is agreed that terrorists & other anti-social elements routinely employ social media to carry out their nefarious activities. However, Government doesn’t seem to be taking steps to curb that menace.
Are all such dictatorial moves really necessary?
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